Conclusion
The conclusion of the article should be able to answer several questions:
- Where are they going next?
- What are the other applications of this work?
- Why does their work matter?
The conclusion should answer the research questions posed in the introduction, and should match the discoveries made in the methods. So if the experiment was flipping a coin one hundred times, the conclusion should be related to results of coin flips... not something auxiliary like 'coins are worth a lot."
Note: Once you have read the abstract, methods, and conclusion - your work is not done!
If you have detrermined the article makes sense for your research, now is the time to read the whole article. Read for understanding, but also relating the content to the other research you have read on the topic. Does it add to understandings you already have? Does it refute anything? Research is a conversation.
